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The right insights on-demand can help R&D teams get ahead of competition

In chemical R&D, it’s always a race to get to the market first with better solutions. The key to this is being able to perform research fast and efficiently. Because the more time and money a company can save in developing a product, the better the chances of success.

The paper “Case Study: Developing a Superior Technology” introduces us to Ian Flemini*, a senior technologist and R&D manager at a chemical company who was asked to lead a team developing a new, large-scale industrial method of separating gases. The goal of the project was to create a gas separation technology based on a ceramic membrane along with an industrial process that would reduce the cost of producing various gases. Saving as much development time as possible was key.

The team found that Scopus was able to help in two major ways during the development process. One was that they could avoid reinventing the wheel. For example, when a contamination problem came up, instead of heading to the lab, the team turned to Scopus. Tons of papers had been published on the issue so they were able to utilize some of the solutions they found. The other way that Scopus proved extremely valuable was by delivering papers and presentations of the competition. The team was able to deduce the target R&D directions of competitors — and continue tracking them over time.

Scopus reduced development time for the team significantly. In fact, they quickly realized that the few hours they spent researching the contamination issue saved them a year of research. Scopus even assisted the team in getting the funding they needed by helping to make the case for the more economical technology the team had developed compared to that of the competition.